


Defenders of Tomorrow: Kairos

by rylee_kai



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Cyberpunk, BAMF Akira, BAMF Keith, BAMF Lance, BAMF Leandro, But dont worry leakira/klance is the main ship, Cyberpunk, Defenders of tomorrow - Freeform, M/M, avoiding tags and warnings because I am still writing and I want the plot to stay hush hush, bamf everyone really, leakira - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-10
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-16 00:21:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 13,720
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29323113
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rylee_kai/pseuds/rylee_kai
Summary: Kairos: (n) a time when conditions are right for the accomplishment of a crucial action. The opportune and decisive moment.The ground is boiling on Arus, the heart of the Arusian Interplanetary System. The Galran Empire is choking out more and more control over the people. The Salvation rebel movement grows larger with each day as they push back against the looming Empire. And in the shadows, Super Team Extraordinaire manages to cause fires under the Empire's feet.So what happens when a series of screwed up coincidences occur in a single night bringing the two most wanted vigilantes of the Empire together? The Tailor had just been minding his own business and Red Rider was just trying to make sure the other didn't suffer because of him. Was it ill-fated meeting or a blessing in disguise as the two ride into the night dripping wet with highly coveted valuables from the Empire.Updates on Wednesday
Relationships: Adam/Shiro (Voltron), Dante/Hiroshi, Keith/Lance (Voltron), akira/leandro
Kudos: 14





	1. Red Rider

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because while I tried to work on some of my other ongoing works I couldn't stop thinking about this one. I knew the only fix would be just writing the damn thing.
> 
> This is my fun Defenders of Tomorrow spin off, it will have lots of angst, because I feel like it's just part of the characters and AU, but hopefully still lots of jokes and laughs to keep true to the characters we know and love.

I knew everything was fucked when the iridescent sheen temporarily blinded me. The Harbor was four minutes away from being gassed with a sedative so I could steal some very high profile imports. 

The gas was too knock out any workers of organic composition who may still be in the yard, which ideally at two in the morning would be zero, but as Kollivan would say, you can never be too cautious. He quite enjoyed planning things to a T, well he didn’t exactly plan for this. 

Yes, yes, I knew exactly who the reflective material belonged to. Possibly my greatest competition, but I preferred not to see it that way, after all, we may not play for the same team, but we were on the same side of the war. 

_ The Tailor _ , a vigilante who has run what he dubbed as Robin Hood operations, apparently some folk legend from Earth who stole from the privileged and gave to the poor. Which begged the question why was he here at the Harbor? The shipping crates weren’t exactly filled with money or gems or gold. Just huge amounts of quintessence. You couldn’t exactly distribute that among the impoverished and needy. 

I glanced at my watch, we were approaching three minutes left, I needed to find The Tailor and get us the supernova out of here, like I said we may not be on the same team, but that didn’t mean I wanted to leave him to be captured by the Empire once they arrived on the scene. If there was anyone more wanted than my brother, my closest friend, and myself it was The Tailor. At least according to the most recent wanted posters, there were plenty of people the Galra would happily twitch the ears to have. I would know, I was wanted under two aliases, it is  _ so much fun _ being a wanted criminal citizen and wanted criminal vigilante. Makes it hard to go grocery shopping. 

Which now that I am thinking about it...I am pretty sure I only have frozen nuggets and ice cream left. I am not even supposed to eat ice cream, thankfully I got my own studio after big bro moved in with his beau. No one left to stop me from indulging in my dairy weakness. You’d think in an inner-planetary system someone would have come up with a dessert more delicious than ice cream, but no. 

Anyway this wasn’t the time to be thinking about ice cream. This was the time to be chasing down a certain chrome jacket. I didn’t care so much about keeping to the shadows like The Tailor was, the Empire were going to be all over the security footage once I got my hands on that quintessence, they would know within hours of it’s disappearance that it was the Red Rider, and they would threaten every means they had against me, but, like always I will have just slipped through the fingertips with their most valuable substance. 

I spotted the sheen round a quick corner, it was quick and barely there, but I was sure it was the coat I was looking for. I had seen it many times in the last four years. I always thought my life was all about my rebel work, but The Tailor was a formidable opponent in that arena. 

It was hard to say whether or not I was looking forward to this mission. Such a high profile theft would mean I need to lay low for a while, but then again I have been running mission after mission after mission for the past few...well let’s just say a long time. Maybe taking a break wasn’t so bad, the only question was what the hell was I going to do with my free time? It was hard to keep hobbies as a trained assassin and spy. 

Maybe I will pick up a book or two, or watch some of the Earth movies that Dante has been so desperately trying to get me to watch. 

Maybe it would give me a chance to meet some people...Dante and Hiroshi were very happy together, and while I would never admit it to their faces they were...very, very disgustingly, adorably cute and it may or may not make me long for a relationship of my own. 

My thoughts were so loud I almost missed the sound of the shipping container lock opening. I shook my head and brought my attention to the shadowed figure in front of me. He was about ten feet from the water line, if I jumped from here and tackled him it wouldn’t give him enough time to react...well hopefully. I would just have to make sure we rolled towards the water before- shit, thirty seven seconds remained. 

Well Hiroshi did always complain that I was a little too impulsive. I dove right off the top of a shipping container. The Tailor reacted faster than I thought he would, sharp senses, I always assumed he was of Earth origins from his reference to Robin Hood, but maybe not? Most earthlings had rather dulled senses. 

His hands were pulling guns from their holsters when I collided with him, it was a tad bit more difficult than I realized it would be getting someone to roll with you, the way you wanted, but before I knew it we were falling. 

It was cold. Like super fucking cold. My watch buzzed against my hand and sighed in relief, that was until a hand grabbed at the collar of my jacket and pulled me forward. I was inches from a very pissed off looking man. He was hard to make out in the dark waters, but there was one thing I could make out very clearly...he was fucking pissed. 

Fortunately his very angry expression was interrupted. Unfortunately it was a giant explosion that caused us to fly backwards in the water, dislodging us from one another. The water had managed to absorb the deafening sounds and heat of an explosion, so there was no injury there, just shock. An explosion wasn’t really in accordance with my plan.

But before I could recover from that shock I remembered I needed to breath, air that is, not water, which I had accidentally taken in when the explosion went off. 

So I was kind of drowning. 

But it’s okay because hands secured around my waist and dragged me upwards before I even needed to think for myself. I was pulled from the water and instantly began shaking and coughing up water. 

In seconds my back was against the ground, “Who the fuck are you?” he snarled, his hair dripping on to me and his teeth chattering, making him much less intimidating. Well except for the blaster, which was on my forehead. I had only seen them from a distance or in pictures, but damn they were fine specimens. The bluish teal glow from the plasma core illuminating his face, reminding me that it would take a micro-movement for my life to end. 

Then there was the fact that he looked like a god with his blue eyes and sharp features illuminated by the glow from his blaster. I wasn’t sure if that was taking from the intimidation or adding to it….I mean I had a shivering, very deadly, beautiful man straddling me. Maybe I have some kinks I need to work through...

Before I could respond to his question of my identity, he looked me up and down before scoffing, “Red Rider, and I thought you were supposed to be one of the good guys.” He climbed off, and I almost shuddered at the loss of warmth (yeah just the warmth, fuck off). He adjusted something on his blaster before pointing it at me.  _ Holy supernova _ . Before I could think twice about trying to move out of the way I was struck with a stun blast, I crippled in on myself in pain. 

I could barely hear his, “bye, for now,” over the ringing in my ears.


	2. The Tailor

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Going to try a posting schedule - so check back Wednesdays for updates <3

“Stars, black holes, and quiznacking supernovas,” I muttered angrily adjusting the heat setting on my coat and climbing over the wreckage. I pulled my glasses back over my eyes and then activated my visor, I needed to get as much intel as possible before the Galra inevitably showed up. Staying hidden now was pointless, the will scour through all the footage and damage possible, it was impossible for me not to walk away without being labeled as a suspect. 

The real question is who the fuck did Red Rider think he was? Waltzing into the Harbor the same time as me, tackling me, pushing me into the freezing cold water, and the quiznacking cherry on top: blowing up the yard. Honestly I could get over the whole saving my life shit, but damaging the Harbor? Hundreds of people, innocent, regular citizens, work here. Hundreds of jobs will be lot while the Galra convert the yard into their investigation and eventually their private property just because of this explosion. So many people without jobs, without means of money, without means of providing for their families. Plus all the damn evidence he just blew up. 

_ “Tailor! Tailor come in! Are you okay? What happened? All the cameras in the yard have gone offline and your comms shut off?”  _ Pana’s tight voice interrupted my internal rant, her voice was only ever tight when she was worried. I relaxed my shoulders and took a deep breath, no need to make her more worried. 

“Yes, Pigeon everything is alright, just an unexpected explosion. I am not sure if I can make it a functional operations panel in time. I also wasn’t able to secure any rations in time. I am going to check for anything else I can smuggle before the Galra get here.” 

_ “Explosion?”  _ Pana’s voice came over again, but she sounded less concerned now, despite my comment, but then again I was talking wasn’t I. That meant I wasn’t dead. My heart softened at my companion’s poorly hidden emotions, she always tried to keep a tough front, tried to pretend things didn’t really bother her. Unfortunately for her, she was still an incredibly obvious read, and unfortunately for me it always tugged at my own heart strings to see or hear her upset.  _ “Do a spectroscopy scan.”  _

“Yeah, yeah, already on it,” I said, working through my visor’s operations, voicing a couple commands before it began to take in data. The yard was a disaster. Scraps of metal blown apart. Textiles and agricultural products crisping to a burn. Flammable materials still putting up a fight against the red and orange flames. “Stupid Salvation and stupid Red Rider.” 

_ “Red Rider? He blew up the shipping yard? Why would he do that?”  _ Hunare’s voice came over next, he sounded a little choked up, I am sure he was trying to regain his composure after my comms finally came back online. I was happy to hear my best friend’s voice, even if it was also, heart wrenching. If there was any reason I fought so damn hard to stay alive it was because of Hunare and Pana. I couldn’t fathom letting them deal with my death. 

“I don’t know Hunk-Alert should I go back to where I left him and ask him?” I growled, apparently I still wasn’t over the ice bucket challenge my fellow vigilante forced upon me. Or more likely the destruction I was still tripping over that he caused. 

_ “You didn’t kill him did you?” _ Hunare’s voice came over the line, sounding a little faraway. 

“Oh don’t get your boxer’s in a twist Sunshine, I didn’t kill anyone,” I rolled my eyes, which made me stop in my tracks. Shiny, glowing white, gold, and purple fluids pooled on the ground. I hummed in thought before activating my live camera feed and activating my gloves. “I have visual on what could be quintessence.” 

The line went silent as Pana likely ran every spec scan she could while I dug through the rubble, “Holy quiznack, I think I hit the jackpot.” Four golden, two white, and one purple; perfectly intact canisters. With the explosion the Galra won’t have any real means of tracking stolen vials of quintessence, which reduced the theft factor exponentially. Pana and Hunare would have a damn field day investigating the substances that the Galra kept under lock and key. 

People barely understood what the material was, there were echoes, rumors of it being the essence extracted from now destroyed planets or from unfortunate souls who disobeyed the Galra or that it came from super secret mines or that it was from the tears of a mythical creature. 

I quickly began shoving the canisters into my pack, my adrenaline was running at an all time high, this could be instrumental, this could be turning point. 

“I don’t think so.” 

My adrenaline pumping heart skipped a beat as I whipped around, throwing my pack over my shoulder and pulling my blasters with all the skill and editing of a movie star. Standing meters from me was my rival and apparently latest partner in what I am sure will be considered one of the biggest attacks of the last five years. 

_ Red Rider _ , yes I knew the name well. He has been around for a year or so before I joined the game under the alias The Tailor. Though it was probably a year or two ago, when the Salvation had joined forces with what remained of the Blade and Voltron that Red Rider got big, I mean like every time someone heard a motorbike they looked out their windows in hopes that it was him big. He had become one of the notorious faces of the Salvation, becoming one of the Empire’s most desired targets. The timing was perfect to up my own game, with the Galra occupied on Red Rider it gave me room to pull off bigger stunts. Ultimately both of us increasing our missions resulted in the Galra scrambling and failing to catch us, so perhaps in some ways I admired and thanked the bandit. 

Well that was until he decided to blow us off the harbor.

“You want round two Harley Davidson?” I silently laughed at my comeback, wondering if he knew anything of Earth or Earth culture, but judging from his raised brow I will take it as a no. 

_ “Tailor, explosion traces came back. Also 97 percent chance it’s quintessence in your pack. Oh and most importantly-”  _ I cut off the comms, staring my rival down. As much as I loved Pana now was not the time to have her distracting me. 

“I came here for those canisters and I don’t plan on leaving without them,” Red Rider said, pulling his long sword from his back sling, the katana-like blade was already deadly looking enough and then he lit it, the purple and red plasma glow lighting the edges with soft fury. I noted that it must be an incredibly unsustainable and restless blade when lit. Purple plasma having the highest energy, tenuously balanced with the red plasma, the lowest and most stable plasma. Designed to cut through literally anything and cool it simultaneously. 

I wondered why he was flexing in front of me with his temporary powered up sword when the sword alone could slice me into bits with ease. Surely with all his training and experience he would know better than to show off? 

“Well if you wanted to walk out of here with the vials maybe you shouldn’t have blown up the harbor,” I said, carefully testing out a side step, he matched me. Let the circling begin. 

“I didn’t blow up shit,” he snarled, the bandana that usually covered his face was wet and sagging around his neck displaying his purple scar and sharp teeth. So the rumors were true, he did have Galra DNA, not that I should be that surprised. I had seen him wield a luxite blade on numerous occasions, a blade that could only be activated for those with Galra blood. 

“That’s really interesting, you know, considering that I am standing in the rubble of an explosion we both managed to escape from because you pushed us into the water before it even went off. How could you have possibly anticipated the explosion if you didn’t set it?”

My comms were beeping at me angrily, letting me know that Pana and Hunare were trying to get a hold of me, but I was barely registering it as I watched strong thighs match my every movement, not that I was staring at his thighs for any reason other than predicting his movements. 

“I set up knock out gases around the yard, not bombs. I was trying to save your ass from getting knocked. I couldn’t exactly let you get taken by the Empire just because you were unconscious,” he responded, his eyes were hardened now, unlike the wide surprise they had been in when I pulled him from the water. I guess some part of me should thank him for saving me. I am sure I would be dead or yes severely unconscious if he hadn’t pushed me into the water. 

I almost thought about trusting him until I remembered I had the spec scans. The visor ran through the components, and no, nothing anesthetic present, and nothing that could have been derived from combustion of an anesthetic agent. 

“Well I don’t see any remnants of anesthetics in the air or on the debris, so, care to explain that one?” His eyes had been trained to my body, trying to figure, trying to predict my next movement, an analyst. Looks like I would have to be extra-unpredictable. 

Fortunately my comment seemed to do the trick, he faltered in his movements...maybe he really didn’t know that the devices he placed were bombs. His eyes trailed away from me and to the debris, and in his moment of distraction I took off. 

_ “If you ever turn your comms off again for a dick measuring contest I swear on Earth I will murder you with you rown damn gun,”  _ Pana said, and despite the fact that I couldn’t see her I could tell her teeth were gritted. 

“Nice to hear your beautiful, cheery voice again Gremlin,” I said through a tight smile. I knew Red Rider would be on my tail, and while I may have just slightly longer legs, I doubted I was much faster than him. I’d have to hope that Hunare would be a pick up location nearby. 

_ “Well if you hadn't turned your comms off you would know that the Galra already locked down the streets leading away from the Harbor, killing all our immediate escape routes. You’ll have to meet H at the fountain,”  _ Pana said. Well shit, the fountain was almost two kilometers away, and while I could easily evade the Galra...but Red Rider?

“Well I have Stabby-McStabberson on my tail-” I started until the familiar buzz of a drone stopped me in my tracks. Shit, shit, shit, supernova shit. If they were already sending in drones that meant that they might have footage of me taking quintessence, which meant I was in a supernova full of shit. It also meant that the Galra knew we were still in the yard, which made escaping much harder. 

A strong arm wrapped around my waist and a hand clasped over my mouth. I was tugged into the shadows of a wrecked shipping container. 

“Turn off your jacket heater, comms, and any tech that would give off pings,” he whispered into my ear, sending shivers down my spine, but I am going to blame it on the cold water even though I was barely wet anymore. His body was much colder than mine as he turned me against the container, hovering over me waiting for the drone to pass. I noticed how much cooler his skin felt, I remembered that Galra had a neat little trick of being able to manipulate their body heat. The drones operate off of visuals, heat signatures, and tech pinging. Okay so maybe Red Rider saved my ass twice tonight, so what, we were still trapped in the shipping yard. 

Wordlessly he took my hand in his and started to navigate us through the wreckage. I only willingly followed because I didn’t exactly have any escape routes for myself. Not because I found a weird amount of comfort in holding his hand as my heart threatened to beat out of my chest. 

I noticed his ears would twitch slightly, much like a cat’s would, or more accurately like a Galra’s would. I wondered if he had the ability to manifest his Galra appearances like some other mixed-Galra I knew. I shook the thought from my head, clearly not an important aspect of our doomed situation. 

Or maybe less doomed...we made our way through one of the gate offices and he lifted a key fob from his jacket, he turned to me with a smirk before clicking a button, and holy Mars. Right there in front of me as  _ the _ Red Lion bike. The most famous bike in all of Arus, maybe even the entire Arusian Planetary System. 

Red Rider jumped on, the bike starting with surprising quietness, he offered a hand towards me with a wicked smile. 

I have never been on a motorbike before...but hey...first time for everything right? I definitely wasn’t nervous, nope not at all, not in the slightest. Where would you get the idea from? I wondered how Red knew my shaking wasn’t from the cold and was in fact from my anxiety as he reached for my hands and wrapped them around his waist, his eyes silently saying, ‘hold on tight.’ 

And that was how I was holding onto my rival-- despite the fact that he pushed me into the sea and despite the fact that I shot him-- zipping through the alleys too small to barricade, rushing towards the city. 


	3. Call Me Red

If you had told me that my mission was going to go fifty types of wrong and then result in my rival clutching onto me as we raced away from Empire goons I would have laughed at you and told you that there was no way in Daibazaal’s nonexistent core. 

Yet here I was, smiling a stupid grin as I took corners a little too fast, weaved through any traffic there was, and took the opportunity to tilt the bike more often than I usually would; but feeling the Tailor stiffen and grip me tighter was like ecstasy. 

Hiroshi banned me from taking Red Lion out for joy rides or on dates or anything that wasn’t a mission. My other bike, a much less souped up bike (which I still loved) didn’t have the speed, the equilibrium, the stunt capabilities that this kitty here had. So yeah, no one had ever been on Red Lion with me before, and it was exhilarating. 

“Do you have a plan or are we just going to keep driving until the bike needs a recharge and we get caught then?” 

Well so much for hoping that the Tailor was enjoying this as much as me. 

“Yes, I have a plan,” I said through gritted teeth. I was the one who got us out of the Harbor, wasn’t I? Plus why did I care if the Tailor was enjoying this as much as I was? I could still feel the phantom pains from the stun shot, I remember scrambling once the paralysis wore off to the water line to empty my vomit. Better in the water than on the ground where the investigative team could look for DNA evidence. 

I could still feel the fury in his eyes as he accused me of blowing up the yard, the seriousness in his eyes as he told me there wasn’t any residue of sedative agents in the area. 

Which brought me to a whole other problem, completely unrelated to the boy gripping on to me like his life depended on it...I had probably planted explosives all around the yard causing far more damage and complications than I could imagine. I was fine if I was the most wanted criminal for having stolen quintessence, but being the most wanted criminal for causing damage to the city that I lived in? For causing panic and ultimately long term consequences for the people in the city that I fought for every time I went on a mission? 

There was no way that Kolivan could have known that my sedative gas shells were explosive shells, there was no way he would send me in without all the information right? His whole thing was making sure you knew everything to the T, having plans A through G, making sure you had multiple escape routes. Kolivan who was known for canceling more missions than he approved because he worried about the safety and success of missions. 

Which begged the question: Who fucked up or who fucked me over on purpose? 

My anger showed in my maneuvering as I took another corner faster than needed, the Tailor gasping as the Red Lion tilted threateningly to the side. The equilibrium and repulsion effect kicked in, keeping our bodies centimeters from the ground before straightening out. 

The Tailor poked at my side threateningly, I held my lip trying to hold out from laughing from the ticklish spot he hit, “Hey you better watch it since I am the one who driving.” 

“Oh please,” he mumbled back, straightening against my back so his voice made it to my ear easier, consequently allowing his breath to brush against my neck. “I know you are just showing off you dick.” 

“Yeah, yeah, I’d like to see you ride as handily as I do,” I snorted back, he may have been right about me showing off, but I wasn’t going to give him that. 

He turned his head towards my neck, his lips just barely grazing my sensitive skin there, and in a voice so provocative it should be illegal, “Oh, I could show you how well I ride.” 

I may have choked on my spit. Every goosebump on my body may have raised. My pants may have even felt a little bit tighter. I may have purposely pulled the bike around another corner faster than I needed to, causing the Tailor to yelp. The last one I will definitely admit too. 

And by good fortune, my need to rub the embarrassment off my voice let my eyes catch on a certain sign, escape plan secured. I turned down a few more alleys content that the Tailor had resigned to resting his head away from my neck. 

As I began to slow the bike he became more alert, I had always assumed it was his team that carried him through missions, but the more I watched him in action the more I realized how sharp of an eye he had on his own. He pointed to a shadowed space behind a dumpster, just barely big enough to fit Red Lion. 

I nodded helping him off the bike and pushing it into the hiding space and activating the camo tech. I gave her a small pat before walking away, it might be a minute until I can see her again. 

When I turned to my new partner in crime I found him peering around one of the corners, his chrome duster pulled over his thigh, showing off the tightly wrapped blaster holster. His fingers itched nervously over the grip of the sleek blaster. Part of me wanted someone to be on the other end of the alley just to watch him in action. He was one of the sharpest shots in the entire city, he’d been compared to the Deadly Shadows, the two older, but very, very famous assassins who used to roam Arus. 

“Is the coast clear?” I asked, coming up behind him. He- flinched? Yes, he flinched when I spoke, which was surprising, I was about to ask if he was okay when he turned towards me, nodding his head. 

“The sooner we get off the streets the better, where are we heading Red?” he said, surveying the present alley, but I was a little stuck on the nickname I just received, not much of a nickname, especially since it was just part of my alias. 

I internally shook my head before pulling out my keys again, showing one of the tags, a pair of teal wings decorated it, “To the Castle.” 

His eyes widened slightly before they twitched and seemed to look at me with skepticism, and then finally a look that I can only describe as, ‘fuck it.’ I mean he had already trusted me this far, he might as well keep taking my hand right? 

So I took his hand and led him further down the alley, taking a few turns until we were hiding behind some trash a few meters from the door we needed to go through. It was Tailor’s chrome jacket that flashed in my eyes that reminded me needed to do some dressing down. 

When his eyes met mine he seemed to understand the dilemma, taking off his pack and beginning to shed the jacket. I followed in his lead, removing my cycling goggles and bandana. I fixed my hair into a bun and turned to face the Tailor whose blue turtleneck he was wearing under his jacket revealed itself as a tank top showing off his lean, creamy brown arms. He was adjusting his belt, which suddenly dropped into a long skirt like covering that matched his tan cargo pants, dropping just below his knees and hiding his holstered guns. 

“Come on Red, stop staring, let’s get this show on the road,” the Tailor said as he dropped to meet me, eyes folding his jacket and putting it into the pack. 

I was about to close the pack when I noticed he was still wearing his goggles, the circular goggles were definitely a signature of the Tailor. I shook my head minutely before reaching up to take them off his face, my fingers lingering on his cheeks where my breath caught at all his freckles. 

“You good dude?” he said, his blue eyes staring intently at me, we were centimeters apart. I shook my head before tossing his goggles into the pack. 

“Do you mind if I carry the pack?” I asked, gesturing to the sword hilt on my back. He shook his head helping me put it on. 

“Just don’t pull on this hook, I don’t want my sniper falling out,” he said with a laugh, I couldn’t tell if he was joking or not, but I decided best to go with probably not joking. The Tailor may not have an entire rebel organization backing him, but his team had a hell of a talent with tech. 

I made my way towards the back door of our hideout for likely the next couple days, or at least hopefully. This was a good spot to lay low, but if the Empire kept looking we would have to keep relocating to throw them off our trail. 

Our bounties would be incredibly high for the next few months...something this high profile...well it was..well, high profile. We already had a long list of crimes and reasons we were wanted by the Galra, and that was just my Red Rider alias, not even my crimes against the Empire as my averagely normal self. 

Though after a few days of thorough searching the Empire would have to pull back search parties, resigning that we managed to get away, that was when we would hopefully be able to sneak back to respective homes and lay low there for the next few months. 

I stood in front of the back door readying to open it when the Tailor took my hand and squeezed, “Hey we are going to need something to call one another.” 

I glanced back at him, he was right, for the next few days it wasn’t going to be ideal to call us the Tailor and Red Rider, plus while the hideout was full of people willing to help, we needed to keep low profiles, hence the shedding of the obvious accessories. Not to mention it wasn’t really safe to use our real names, even if we were on the run together, even if we were forced to trust each other it was better to avoid using them in public places. 

I took a deep breath, looking in his eyes and smirking when it hit me, “Call me Red.” 


	4. I'm Blue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My computer was trying to fight me, but here we go, sorry it's a few hours late!

“Call you Red?” I held back my laugh, looks like he took quite a liking to my little nickname I gave him. “That is literally half your moniker.” 

His bright eyes narrowed and turned into a glare real quick, “I thought it would be easy for you, fuck off. You come up with a better pseudonym.” 

“Hmm,” I pretended to be deep in thought before leaning my chin on his shoulder, I felt him tense before immediately relaxing. “Samurai, Hot Head, Mullet, could work.” 

He snorted before jerking his shoulder, knocking me off, I laughed, but before he could retort I reached out my hand, “Nice to meet you Red, I’m Blue.” 

He met my eyes again, the same bright look returning slowly, along with a twitch of his mouth on the left side. Oh shit, not a lopsided grinner, my heart wouldn't be able to handle that. 

“Alright Blue, follow my lead,” he pushed through the door, and I am not sure what I had been expecting, but I hadn’t been expecting a full bustling kitchen at what must have been almost four in the morning. 

Chefs, bakers, line-chefs, porters, and dishwashers danced around the kitchen in a very elaborate and very confusing dance. Our entrance hardly seemed to bother or affect any of them, some glanced our way but simply went back to work as if two strangers walking into the kitchen was totally normal. 

Before I could question it someone was standing right in front of us. They said nothing, they just waited for one of us to do something, thankfully Red seemed to understand what as going on as he lifted the winged tag from earlier. 

“I see,” the person in front of us nodded thoughtfully before taking a step closer. “May we look to the goddess for protection.” 

“Praise the White Lion,” Red said without missing a beat. Mystery person nodded before gesturing for us to follow them, and weaving us through the busy kitchen. We stopped in front of a service elevator in a dim hallway, which led to me noticing a faint reddish glow on the mystery person’s cheeks. 

Just as I thought,  _ The Castle _ , the old hotel and embassy of the Alteans on Arus. It was presumed that the Empire had killed every last Altean in the universe, or at least that was what Zarkon advertised. I had always doubted the truth, but here in front of me was real evidence. I kept my mouth shut instead of gasping, ‘ _ Oh my Neptune you are Altean _ .’ I figured they probably wouldn’t appreciate that very much. 

They handed us receiver comm and a magnetic fob before ushering us into the elevator, “Best of luck to you both.” 

Red thanked them before pressing the fifth floor button. Honestly this entire interaction was whiplash for me. I knew that Red was part of the Salvation, and I knew that the Salvation absorbed what was left of the Altean Alliance, Voltron and what was left of the Blade of Marmora a few years back. A more numerous front was better in the fight against the Empire right? I guess I just hadn’t realized how much backing they had throughout Arus. I wondered if I could walk into this hotel and tell them I was the Tailor and suddenly receive refuge. I doubted it, it would be nice, not to be on edge all the time in my own home, worrying that it would take one shorted roundabout way back home for the Galra to figure out where I actually lived. 

“This place will be safe for now, they will let us know if any Empire officers come near enough to warrant concern,” Red said leaning against the elevator wall and showing the receiver. “It will be best to keep all our other comms off for now. We are too high profile right now to risk any communications.”

I nodded, “Yeah I agree, I would rather stay quiet and have my team murder me in a few days then let them know I am okay and have the Galra find me.” 

Red huffed a laugh at that, “Yeah, the Salvation won’t be that worried, we have contingency plans in place for this, but I could care less what they think, it’s my brother who is going to kill me, and not for falling off the grid, for blowing up the Harbor.” 

There was a bitterness as he finished his thought, Red must have realized that I wasn’t lying about the evidence, realized that he was unknowingly used to blow the Harbor. I reached a hand out resting it on his forearm, “You didn’t know did you?” 

He shook his head viciously as the elevator doors opened, temporarily distracting me, but I still saw in the corner of my eye him reaching up to wipe the tears from his eyes. Okay, so maybe I was a bit of a dick earlier, but in my defense how was I supposed to know he didn’t know he blew up the yard? 

Red took the lead again after he fixed his composure stopping in front of room five, which unlocked with the fob. Once inside he locked all three inner locks. When I turned to face the room my jaw dropped. 

I was standing in a four bedroom and bathroom suite with a kitchen stocked with nonperishables and frozen foods. Red stepped into the living room running the fob over various surfaces turning them into various workstations. A medical station, a radio and surveillance station, a work bench, comms bench. He reluctantly made that one slide back into its hiding place. That’s right, he mentioned he had a brother. He probably wanted to contact him as badly as I wanted to reach out to Pana and Hunare. 

I disappeared into one of the rooms and immediately found myself showering, I couldn’t resist. I hadn’t been in a shower this nice in probably four years, and there was no way I wasn’t going to take advantage of the situation, because the situation was pretty shitty otherwise. 

I also happened to find a variety of clothing types and sizes in the closet. I didn’t love the idea of shedding my familiar clothes but they were still fairly damp and smelled of all the various crimes I had just been a part of. So I reluctantly put on some linen pants and a loose pullover tank top. To add to the very relaxed look I strapped one of my holsters over my shoulder and hooked my blaster in. I wasn’t going to be completely defenseless. 

“Hey is there a washing machine-” I said coming out of the bedroom I claimed as my own to find Red staring at a box of pasta like it was a nuclear engineering problem, followed by his stomach grumbling. I threw a hand over my mouth to muffle my laughter. 

He looked up with his brows furrowed until his eyes met my body, he very obviously checked me out before turning away blushing. I saved him from his own embarrassment by taking the box from his hands. 

“Well thank the stars you dragged me along on the bike with you, if only to make sure you don’t starve to death,” I said before starting the meal. His eyes gleamed with gratitude before he ran off to shower himself, and then started a load of laundry with both of our belongings. 

He had chosen a pair of sweats and a very tight athletic undershirt that seemed to hug his every muscle, I found myself staring, but unlike Red I didn’t feel the need to hide my appreciation. I was a flirt after all. 

We were on the couch a little bit later scarfing down the food watching the news casters give live updates on the ‘Heated Harbor Havoc.’ The thing was, I was barely watching the news, a little too fixated on the domesticity of everything around me. Despite the fact that we had just met that night we were both comfortable enough to dress down in very vulnerable clothing, armed with only one of our weapons (what I assumed was his luxite blade was strapped at the base of his back), cooking dinner and doing laundry.

My heart ached. Pana and Hunare had tried on many occasions to get me to move in with them, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it, the danger I could put them in far outweighed my desire to be with my found family. There was the reminder of the domesticity of my last relationship seeping through the cracks, walking around completely unguarded and completely at ease, sharing intimate moments and soft casual moments. There was the reminder of my family…

The news anchor was giving some updates about the pursuit of the ‘terrorists’ when I came back to reality, glancing towards Red who was looking a little green. Sure we had been called many less than pleasant names before, maybe even terrorists before, but I am sure this time it hit a little bit harder. People can call you anything they want, but I have always found the names that hurt the most are the ones that hit true. 

I rested a hand over his knee, “Hey, you didn’t know, it wasn’t your fault.” 

He shook his head, he kept his eyes closed, probably trying to keep the tears from falling. 

“I can take the first watch, you should go rest,” I said, getting up to throw the laundry in the dryer and washing the dishes. 

“I don’t think I will even be able to close my eyes,” Red muttered from the couch. Reluctantly he looked up to meet my eyes, “Blue would you mind if I turned it on something else for a bit, we shouldn’t have anything to worry about unless the receiver turns on.” 

I made my way back to the couch and nodded, yeah, I could use something to get my mind off everything. He managed a small smile before rapidly changing the channels. Almost every single one of them was talking about the attack, even the ones that usually aired entertainment content. 

Eventually Red found a channel showing an older Arusian movie, it was a pretty famous one, but it was the perfect distraction. I found myself growing more and more tired with the more comfortable I found myself. 

I last remember the protagonist tackling the antagonist who would later be the main love interest before I passed out on the couch. 


	5. Two Hours

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And finally some of our other characters

**Pana**

“This fucking idiot,” I yelled throwing my headset across the room. Leandro had disabled his comms again. Now of course I could always override the shut up, I designed the tech for my partner who I knew was an idiot. But I also knew that the Galra were minutes away from breaching the yard, drones were probably already in the yard, unfortunately I couldn’t see because all the visuals had been downed and it was too risky to send one of my drones in. 

So for now I would have to sit and wait. There wasn’t anything I could do to make sure Leandro made it out alive, which was a difficult notion for me to sit with. Leandro would say something like, don’t fret so much and just trust me. I did, I did trust Leandro, I trusted Leandro to do everything in his power to try and make it out of the Harbor, but sometimes a situation didn’t rest of the shoulders of one person’s capabilities. 

The best damn pilot in the entire system can be taken out by one anomaly or storm or ship malfunction. Our entire operation here was a game of risk, we took a gamble every time because nothing was ever completely in our hands. 

Now of course, most situations don’t feel that much like a gamble. We were super team extraordinaire, we had been at this for four years now. We knew how to get in and out without ever being seen. We knew how to disappear into plain sight. It was situations like this that reminded me that even with our skills and experience we can’t plan and evade everything. 

Super team extraordinaire. That was what Leandro dubbed us after the first few missions together, not that Hunare or I disagreed in the slightest. We did jobs better than the Blades, Voltron, and Salvation, and did them better than when the three organizations came together and we did it with three people. 

Now maybe the world people is generous considering: 

Myself, the most skilled hacker in probably the system and a computer engineering genius. I could crack any fire wall and design trillion dollar tech with my eyes closed at the same time. Not to brag...or anything. 

Hunare, an inventive mechanical engineer and motherly-worrying planner. He could pair my tech with any machinery, honestly at times I am convinced we are one of the same brain. He also reviews every plan, which thank the stars, if not Leandro would have died years ago through sheer recklessness and lack of preparation. 

Then of course Leandro, the face of our little operation. It was hard to describe his skill set, not because he wasn’t impressive, but because he was impressive in such a range of things. I feel like I learn a new skill of his every other week. He was a phenomenal marksman, could probably parkour any building, skilled in evasion and disappearing. He knew about tech, weapons, mechanics, chemistry, physics every movie ever made, spaceships, and videogames. I wondered what he could have conquered if he had the opportunity to go to college like Hunare and I. Then of course his most coveted trait, he could see everything. I considered running his DNA to make sure he was an earthling like myself and Hunare because there was no way a regular human had such heightened visual senses right? I decided for his own privacy not to run the tests, but maybe one day…

But yeah, super team extraordinaire can’t make it through every operation nuscathed, that was statistically impossible, but apparently statistics wanted to have a fucking field day. An explosion? Really? The Red Rider? Really? The sheer number of Galra responding on the scene? Really? 

Honestly the whole thing was beginning to feel like a ploy, but there was no way someone could have known we were going to hit up the yard right? Plus Leandro’s detour into the yard was only a secondary piece of the plan. 

I supposed it was just a series of unlucky coincidences, really unlucky, fucked up coincidences. 

I walked over to pick up my headset, Hunare was still out there. When I sat back down I felt the tears gather in my eyes as I stared at the offline comms, disconnected bio monitors, and killed cameras feeds. 

**Hiroshi**

It was the incessant knocking on the door that drew me from my sleep, or more accurately drew Dante from the bed, in turn waking me. Before I could check the time I could feel Dante’s eyes on me, I sat up to look at his silhouette in the bedroom doorway. 

“Hiro,” his voice was enough to make me nearly double over. Dante tried to keep things light hearted, so you knew when his voice hit a certain tone things were very, very not okay. 

I sat up so quickly I nearly gave myself nausea, “What’s wrong?” 

“We need to get dressed right now, something’s happened,” his voice said, the pit in my stomach, the roiling nausea only growing worse. “Something’s happened to Akira.” 

In thirty minutes Alzina, who woke up, Dante, and myself were sitting in the command center, everyone’s faces looking rather grim. 

I remember clapping Akira’s shoulder after dinner this evening, he had been talking about this mission for a little while now. It was his biggest one yet, the risk level of the mission wasn’t that high, but the high profile of the crime was. There was almost excitement in his voice though when he talked about getting a couple months off. 

Dante and I shared a look in surprise. It had been five years since Akira got clean, and he spent every moment on a mission, planning for a mission, or training for a mission. He always claimed that any second of free time he had he could feel himself falling apart, he could feel his body hurtling itself towards bad decisions and any means to feel high if he let himself think. 

Dante had encouraged him to go talk to someone about it, but Akira always refused. We had to be content that he was making his own decisions, albeit not exactly the wisest decisions, but certainly better than falling back into crux. 

So to hear that Akira wanted to take a break, willingly? Maybe it was him growing up, or maybe it was exhaustion from back to back missions, maybe it was years off the drugs, or maybe it was all of it or maybe it was none of it. 

But in all honesty I didn’t care so much what Akira did as long as he was safe and he was content with life. Now being an assassin and agent for the Salvation wasn’t exactly the safest job in the world, it was better than him doing stupid shit without an organization and people backing him. It was the content that was starting to get to me, Akira was twenty five and his only friends were Alzina, Dante, and myself. He hadn’t been in any relationships, or at least not any serious ones. He was fine working himself to the bone, but I know it didn’t give him any happiness or relief. 

Everyone had turned to look at me with weak smiles, as if trying to apologize before anything was even said. I knew Akira wasn’t dead, or at least not yet, else Kollivan would have been knocking on our door and no one would have dragged me into a situational meeting. 

Akira was resourceful, intelligent, and trained for this. I am sure something went wrong, and Kollivan, Ozar, and Alfor are just covering their asses by making sure I know what’s going on. I long gave up agent, leader, and other command center work, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t snap everyone in this room in half if I really let loose. 

Kollivan, the head of the Blades, started, discussing what the mission details had been. Sneaking into the Harbor, setting up sedative gas shells, breaking into the quintessence crates, and stealing the vials. 

I found myself a little shocked with the mission, quintessence was the backbone of the Galra Empire. Another member from the Blade started talking, saying how recent intel has shown fewer and fewer guards around quintessence shipments, giving the Salvation the perfect opportunity to steal some and show the Galra up in a very public way. It made sense, and Akira was certainly right about the high profileness of the mission. 

Ozar, the head of the namesake rebel group Salvation, went next, the hardened look in his eyes only looked darker today, which was understandable, Red Rider was the best agent of the entire organization. He was the most wanted vigilante in the city, well him and the Tailor. 

“Olia was on supervision,” he said, gesturing to the Surveillance Director. She barely acknowledged her name being called, absorbed in her tablet. “We all know Red Rider doesn’t do missions with active comms so we aren’t sure exactly what went down or what is going on presently. The veil team had been watching from cameras we had access too, once Rider had finished placing the shells he seemed to shoot off unexpectedly. We aren’t sure why exactly, but shortly after an explosion took over the shipping yard. All the cameras have been killed, and we have no further visuals on the situation.” 

Ozar simply stopped after that, resuming to his seat. It was then when I realized that that was all we know. After the explosion no one had been able to spot Akira or hear from him. 

“Do we have any idea what caused the explosion?” Nrega asked, Kolivan’s new right hand, every since Antok went curiously missing. You could almost see the surprise that still crossed Kolivan’s eyes when she spoke instead of his old partner. 

“Right now?” Ozar said, running a hand through his greyed hair. “No. And we can’t get any drones or tech on the scene. It's completely swamped with the Empire at the moment.” 

Sablan, Ozar’s right hand, spoke next, “The veil team is working to see if we can satellite imagery, but it looks like the Galra have ordered the Harbor to be a blind spot for the time being. They don’t want anyone to see what is going on there.” 

Another moment of silence took the room before Olia jumped, startling everyone and projecting video feed and images to the wall. A let go of a breath I hadn’t realized I had been holding as I watched a red neon streak zip through the streets. The photos were blurry from Red Lion’s speed, we all could recognize those blurry photos. 

The images continued to stack, as more cameras picked up on the movement. 

“Let’s get the diversion teams projecting additional red tails and holograms to throw trackers,” Alfor ordered, and someone rushed out of the room quickly. Alfor, the old King of Altea, one of the few remaining Alteans, a race of aliens famous for their ability to blend magic and tech. They had created some incredible diversion tactics over the years, and I couldn’t be more impressed or grateful for their work. 

Sure enough within two minutes of his command additional red lights began streaking through the streets on the live feed, the hologram images came through too, but they were a little more obvious. But the goal was to slow down the Empire officers while Akira disappeared. 

I focused on the most recent image when I noticed something, “Who in the black hole is on that bike with Red Rider?” 

Everyone followed my eyes to the latest image, and sure enough there was a noticeable space between the two lumps on the bike. Another image popped up. 

“White Lion it can’t be!” Coran nearly screeched, the newest image showed a blinding light where the second figure should be. 

“Is that-?” Alzina started, but she couldn’t bring herself to finish. 

“The Tailor,” Nrega said with an unexpected smugness, “Akira always talks about the damned Tailor, and look at that, he has him on the back of his bike.” 

“It might not be the Tailor, let’s not jump to conclusions,” Ozar said, interrupting the shock settling into the room, and more specifically into my body. 

The story was piecing itself together in my head. If Akira had been setting sedatives around the Harbor there would only be one reason he would deviate from the plan; someone was there who he thought couldn’t get knocked out. Either someone from the Salvation or someone from our side of the ‘war’ as he often put it when he talked about the Tailor. 

Akira probably tackled him into the water to avoid the knockout gas, but bombs went off instead. The Galra swarmed the scene and, Akira managed to convince his new  _ friend _ the only way they were going to make it out was together on Red Lion. 

“It doesn’t matter who is with him, what matters is he is alive, he is probably going to have to lay low at one of the hideouts for the next few days. An explosion at the Harbor is going to be considered a terrorist attack, everyone, even citizens will want blood from the disaster. We are probably going to have to wait at least forty eight hours until we hear from him,” I said standing up. I approached the new image loading in, my hand reaching out to my baby brother. “The best thing we can do is run interference with the Empire’s search attempts, disrupt evidence collection at the Harbor, and listen into the intel from the Empire Defense HQ.” 

Ozar and Alfor took over from there, barking out the rest of the orders. Dante retrieved me from the screen and asked if I wanted to go back to the room. I nodded, there was no point in me being there, no one could run out there and save him, it would only draw more attention. Now it was just a waiting game. 

Alzina left the room with us, she looked more nervous than usual. Though I knew that she and Akira were best friends she had to know he was going to be fine right? Akira knew how to handle situations like this, now of course, this was much bigger than any situation he had been before, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t handle it. 

Once we got to the apartment Alzina plopped on one of the couches, “I have a weird feeling about this.” 

Dante brought tea to sitting area, gesturing for me to sit next to him, I happily took the seat holding onto him for warmth and comfort. Dante took the liberty of responding, “Why?’ 

“The unexplained bombs, the Tailor’s appearance, the response time of the Galra, it just all seems like too many things fell into the wrong places for it to be a coincidence. And it almost feels like my magic is tweaking out,” she explained looking out the window. 

“What you think the Tailor was behind it? Or that the Galra knew we would be planning something so they planted their own bombs?” I asked, a little unsure of what she was trying to get at. 

“Honestly I don’t know, like I said, all I can pick up on is a weird feeling, something isn’t right. Someone somewhere was planning something,” she said running her hand through her short hair. A bright memory came up, the bet Alzina made against Akira, saying whoever lost would have to get a haircut, she unexpectedly lost, cutting her hair into a short bob while Akira still pranced about with his long hair. Her next words came out in a quited voice, “Father said that the recruitment team was trying to reach out to the Tailor again.” 

“Again? Wouldn’t that make it the fourth time this year alone?” Dante interjected with surprise. “We have no idea if he is actually getting our requests, but if he wanted to be a part of the Salvation he would have found a way to reach out to us already. He obviously enjoys his solo work.” 

“It drives some of the leaders crazy, the rogue rebel,” Alzina said. “We have no control over him or his movements, and he is quite popular among the community. They think if we had him it would be a game changer in recruitment.” 

I understood, it was just a few years ago when the Salvation began releasing promo material to encourage recruitment, it was why Alzina and myself were two of the most wanted people of the Empire without ever having stepped outside the Salvation bunkers. We were the stars of the Salvation. The princess without a home and a tortured soldier, everyone loved supporting causes with the kicked puppies. 

The Tailor though, he was practically a celebrity among the community, Dante and I frequently heard the name mentioned when running the programs. Everyone wanted to be on his side, to be brave like him, to give back the way he did. Dante said it reminded him of a movie from Earth, a robinhood of sorts. 

Why promote kicked puppies when you can promote the hero they already loved? 

“You don’t think?” I voiced with an empty feeling settling in my stomach. 

“I am not sure, there is no way my father, Kollivan, or Ozar would have known though. But I will say I won’t be surprised if someone comes forward if Akira comes home with the Tailor on the back of his bike saying they were behind it all.” 

The thought of someone intentionally putting my brother in danger- things whited out and when I came to Dante was cradling my head in his lap while Alzina held my prosthetic arm in her magic touch. The purple glow began to die and turn to a faint teal before powering off. 

“I think it’s time to rest,” Dante said before sending a thank you to Alzina who left shortly after. 

I climbed back onto the couch and Dante turned on the news and we watched as the news castors fret wildly for information to tell. 

**Akira**

By the time the movie ended Blue had long passed out, his was turned towards the couch, his blaster looked to be painfully pressing into his body, his long legs stretched out. Beneath the pale white shirt he was wearing I caught the tapestry of colors that decorated his shoulder blade and back. It was hard to pinpoint exactly what the tattoo was, but I did find myself staring at it for longer than I mean too. When I gathered my thoughts I went into one of the spare bedrooms and placed a blanket over him, careful as not to wake him. 

I turned the news back on, pleased to see that the footage they were playing showed multiple neon red streaks racing through the streets. The Salvation was out there watching over me still. 

One of Blue’s legs kicked me before finding a resting place on my lap. I held in a laugh as I pulled some of the blanket over my own lap to make sure he stayed warm. 

It was weird being in hiding with someone else, I only did solo work, it was safer that way. But sitting here on the couch with Blue, in the light of the biggest escape I had ever pulled, it didn’t even feel all that terrifying. Normally I would have showered for nearly an hour just to bring my nerves down. Being here someone else...it made things seem less...well less daunting...and I think part of me enjoyed that. 


	6. Twelve Hours

**Leandro**

Navigating the space was weird. Stress levels always seemed to be high, but neither of us wanted to address it. The news was always playing in the background. The receiver always centimeters away from one of us. 

I had woken up a few hours after the movie ended, Red was fighting sleep desperately while watching the news. Fortunately they still hadn’t released much information, but our faces were listed as the suspects. 

It was almost comical looking at the wanted posters, they honestly had no idea what we really looked like. The only defining features on my poster was my chrome duster and goggles, they purposely shaded my face, because no one had any idea what it looked like and a single curl coming out from my hood that looks to be colored black. 

Red Rider’s was a little bit less vague with the black locks of his hair being the main feature of the poster, his eyes and face were obscured by his goggles and his red bandana. It made me wonder how many people were taken into custody either hundreds or none at all. 

I lifted the blanket from my body and draped it over Red who gave me a tired and weak smile before promptly letting his head drop. I kept myself from laughing by pulling up the computer to check all the information that had been released so far. I had pulled off plenty of big stunts, but there was something different about this one. 

It was probably because of the growing tension between the Arusian Assembly, the Empire, and the Salvation. Honestly I had been wondering when the twig was going to snap for weeks now. A pit formed in my stomach, realizing that this incident very well might be the twig. I was hoping to be far away from here by the time it ever happened. Pana and Hunare it was in my goals to go back to Earth, the only problem is all the security. It’s only been increased since my family made their final stop on Arus. Every other year they seem to add a new restriction to travel guidelines, almost like they are trying to trap everyone on this planet. 

Maybe I would have to hit up plan B and try carbon freezing my body and traveling to Earth that way. Unfortunately carbon freezing appears to only be a thing in the Star Wars Universe. 

No information about Red and I having quintessence, which was good, but the stories were starting to pick up speed as the city began to wake up. The main news media channels were all the same, ‘explosion at the harbor, terrorists still at large, two suspects at the moment are Red Rider and the Tailor.’ Other radical sites claim that they Galra had imported explosives to draw the two vigilantes in to kill them. The other side of the radical coin claims that this is only the start of the crazed antics of the terrorist duo. Strangely enough the second highest trending tags were about Red Rider and the Tailor working together. 

It was easy to get lost in them, funny to see the kind of conclusions people will jump to. Some people claimed we were enemies, others claimed we had been lovers long before we began this work, others were fairly close to the truth. 

It was a few hours later when Red jumped from his sleep and stabbed a hole in the blanket allowing for a small explosion of feathers across the couch. 

“Really the blanket?” I snorted from the kitchen where I was whipping up trashy water based pancakes, but hey you got to work with what you got. 

Red jumped at my voice, he didn’t seem to completely get a hold on the situation until he fell into one of the kitchen counter stools, “You are Blue, you are also the Tailor, we are probably very wanted suspects right now huh?” 

“Very good Red, A+,” I said, placing a stack of pancakes in front of the boy, and by the time I returned with syrup he had already downed the entire stack. I managed to make a few more for him before sitting down and enjoying the pancakes myself. “I think shit’s going to get a lot worse before it gets better.” 

Red looked up with syrup all over his face, his hair showing clear signs of bed head, and it should have been very unattractive, but it wasn’t. Then there were his eyes. His eyes were purple, a deep purpley blue with grey swirled in. It reminded me of the Milky Way, I was convinced if I stared at them too long I would get homesick, so I managed to tear my eyes away from bed-head beauty and continue to devour my pancakes. 

“I think you might be right, since it was an attack that affects civilians it will probably go the Arusian Assembly, and I have no idea what that will turn into,” Red said, running his fingers through his hair, I found myself holding back a laugh at the style he was combing it into, almost like Red preferred his gorgeous long hair to take on the just about hideous mullet hair do. 

He turned to me seriously, after noticing my failed attempt to hold in a laugh, “What’s so funny?” 

“Sorry, nothing about our situation is funny,” I started before reaching my hand out to grab one of the loose strands of his hair. “Well nothing except this mullet.” 

“Mullet?” he asked, his entire face twisting into one of confusion, he was so emotionally vivid it was actually adorable. 

“Don’t hurt yourself thinking about it, I am guessing you aren’t from Earth,” I said getting up and going to the computer to pull up the search engine. Thankfully the search turned up exactly what I wanted, the worst mullet hairstyles of all time. 

“My hair does not look like that!” he shouted emphatically before grabbing a hair tie and throwing his hair into a loose ponytail, and I prayed to whatever gods ruled over hair that he got rid of the mullet. 

We both fell onto the couch laughing at our respective antics, it was strangely nice, this complete stranger, who I seemed to get along with surprisingly well, but that brought me to my next point. 

“What are we going to do to pass the time?” 

**Alzina**

Where was Akira when you needed him? Apparently hiding out at a hotel with his new mystery partner because he is wanted by the Empire and Arusian Assembly. 

I mean honestly how could he be so selfish, running away when I needed him to run interference between Romelle and myself. The fun loving blonde had been spending quite a bit of time around Akira and I lately, which I loved, but um, let’s just say between trying to help lead Voltron, learn magic, and assist in the medical wing I didn’t have time to learn how to flirt or interact with people I had crushes on. 

Not that Akira was an expert by any means, but at least he served as a buffer, a buffer that was severely lacking right now. 

“I just can’t believe all this, how do we know he isn’t injured or in trouble?” Romelle said, shaking her head as she paced around the room, like she had been doing for the past hour since she woke up from her late medical ward shift. 

She was a worrier, which most of the time was cute, but when I myself was already sitting in a pot of anxiety it didn’t help. See another reason we needed Akira, he was always the level-headed one...well okay maybe level-headed isn’t the right word, but he is the don’t feel or think just do guy. 

“It’s going to be alright, the teams have narrowed his location down to three hideouts, no Empire patrols seem to be digging too close to those spots yet. Plus Akira knows how to handle these situations, he is trained for it. If he is injured or in trouble he will figure it out, in a few days the heat will die down and he will be back home,” I said resting a hand on Romelle’s shoulder to stop her pacing. 

And before I could react her body was collapsing into mine, sobbing. I brought both of our bodies to the ground before rubbing circles into her back. 

“I just wish there was something more I could do for him, you know how much he has done for me,” Romelle said through shattered breaths. 

Romelle had been one of the many rescues from the great Arena break four years ago. The Arena was a terrible, and disgusting operation. A series of spontaneous events led to the decloaking and location of the Arena, which led to another series of events that would be considered one of the largest jail breaks in history.

Romelle had lost her brother in that Arena. Hiroshi had lost his arm. Countless others had lost their lives. 

Akira was one of the agents to break into the prison, they managed to rescue hundreds of lives before the Arena blew up. System wide celebrations took place, and while the event is still considered a tragedy according to the newsfeeds, it launched a full scale investigation into the Arena and it’s backing, and while the Empire was able to cover their tracks enough to cut ties, they lost many resources and backing after that. It was a win for the Salvation and the people. 

And of course it brought Romelle into my life. A girl I was sure one of these days I would work up the courage to ask out, but honestly I just wasn’t sure if she felt the same way. We had grown to be close friends, and I feared that might be where her feelings end.

“I know, I know,” I said continuing to rub her back as the tears fell, wetting my shirt, but honestly I didn’t even care. I think I needed a hug more than I realized. We held each other tightly as the news played on mute in the background.  _ Suspects still at large _ . 

  
  


**Akira**

Turns out Blue had a lot of ideas on how to pass the time. Turns out we were both very competitive people. I wondered if he saw me as a rival all these years like I had...I wondered if this was a way to prove who was really the better vigilante. 

Not that I cared, nope. Not at all. I didn’t need to prove myself to anyone. Which is definitely not why I was panting heavy breaths covered in a layer of sweat as I stood crouched across from Blue. We were circling each other, waiting for one of us to make the first move. We had gone ten rounds already, and we were tied, this was the deciding round. 

I noticed a muscle twitch, so I jumped forward, expecting him to jump too, but instead he side-stepped, letting me nearly fall on my face, but before I had a chance to gather my stance he was pinning me to the ground. 

There was no way I was letting him win, so I shifted my center of gravity before he had me immobilized. I flipped us over, getting ready to hold him down, but he shot me a smile before poking me in the side. Looks like my stifled laughter on the bike yesterday didn’t really hide my ticklish spots. I yelped, losing my grasp on him giving him another opportunity to topple me, this time putting me in a headlock. I considered my options. He had just played dirty with the whole tickling move, but kicking him in the balls didn’t really seem like a fair in comparison. So unfortunately I tapped his arm three times giving in. 

“You definitely cheated, so I don’t even think that counts,” I said rolling over onto my back letting my body relax after the onslaught. 

“We never specified the rules of our wrestling, but if you want to be a big baby about it I will agree to a tie, after all, it’s clear we both have very different techniques. It’s like trying to compare different swimming styles, they all have their own perks and everyone had their preferred strokes,” Blue said, collapsing down next to me. 

“Do you swim a lot?” I asked, curious, the earthly sport had some popularity here on Arus, pools of course were everywhere, but used less competitively than Earth. 

“I try to go once a day, helps me keep in shape, I hate running and weight lifting anyway,” Blue said chuckling softly. “What about you mini-beef cake, what’s your preferred poison?” 

I choked at the nickname landing a friendly punch in his arm, “Well the Blades are rather intense, the usually start off the day running ten miles, then weight lifting, then combat training, and then they round off the day with another ten mile run.” 

I waited for that to sink in, letting Blue get impressed and maybe a little sheepish at his training methods, I bit back my smile at watching him, “But I haven’t done Blade Boot Camp for a while. I usually just run and do combat training.” 

Blue’s face relaxed at hearing my updated routine before throwing me a friendly punch, “You did that on purpose, making me think you ran a quiznacking marathon everyday.”

I had no idea what a marathon was, but I still found myself laughing alongside Blue’s contagious one. We bickered back and forth for a while on the ground when a question from the night before crossed my mind.

“Hey, how did you know I was Red Rider?” I asked, rolling over on my side, resting my weight on a propped elbow. Blue’s eyebrows raised in surprise, his eyes peering at me in curiosity. The blue that reminded me of Dante’s pictures from the Earth oceans, the blue that reminded me of those flowers on Daibazaal mom used to always have in the garden, the blue that reminded me of the twilight sky here on Arus. 

“Uh, well one of my partners dubbed it part of my sharpshooter skills, she says it’s kinda like my mind wants to take in everything about a situation, she says it’s probably the only reason I have managed to stay live this long,” he laughed, more airy than usual, a small about of animosity in his voice. “Anyway, I noticed your signature goggles and red bandana, plus your longer hair has always been something that stood out to me. I figured you had Galra lineage from how cold your body temp was. The leather belt around your waist implied a weapon holster and your sword cross strap wrapped your shoulder across your torso. Plus there are only so many people who would be stupid enough to push me into the water, and uh, I have seen some of your work before this.” 

“How dare you, I am never stupid. If anything you are the one who didn’t even notice me placing shells around the yard,” I gasped in mock offense before deciding to ask another question. “So if you are this all-seeing sharpshooter where did your get your alias, The Tailor, from?” 

“Oh, now isn’t that a story,” Blue chuckled. “But let me guess Red Rider is because uh, hmm, is it because you have the ability to spew fire or maybe your skin is actually red and you are just hiding it...no, no it’s your eyes and you are wearing contacts I knew it. Or it’s because you used to ride rollercoasters until your face was red?” 

“Ha-ha,” I fake laughed. “I get it Red Rider isn’t all that creative, but I didn’t give myself the name, the people did so screw off.” 

“Mmhm,” he hummed before laying flat and closing his eyes. “My grandfather, he was an incredible pilot, dubbed the Tailor for the way he could thread the needle. I would often joke the catchphrase when I started working with my team. Other jokes too, like ‘they call me the Tailor because I am in and out so seamlessly’ or ‘they call me the Tailor for my subtlety.’ Before I knew it my team was calling me the Tailor and leaking it into the forums.” 

The mention of his team hit a heartstring and I wasn’t sure why. I mean of course I knew he had a team, a very high functioning team at that. But I think maybe part of me hoped to convince Blue to join the Salvation. I wasn’t sure why exactly I hoped that, but the more time I spent around Blue the more I thought about random things that would be fun to do with him. Like I couldn’t cook for shit, but I had more than a few restaurants I was obsessed with and I was dying to take him there. Or how I desperately wanted to go watch a movie in the theatres with him. Or let him show me all of his favorite earth movies. Or how I wanted to take him the Moon gardens. Or how I wanted to train with him at the Salvation simulation room to see how many drones we can take out paired together. Or how I wanted to take him for another motorcycle ride. 

“Wow, now I feel like I need a new alias, the story behind mine doesn’t even count as a story,” I said fiddling my fingers together. 

“Whatever you are thinking about, stop,” he said, his face suddenly looking at mine before he pressed his finger in between my eyebrows. “Brooding does seem to be your look, but you look so much better with a relaxed face and small smile.”

I blushed turning away, thankfully saved by the rumbling in my stomach. Blue quickly got to work in the kitchen. 

“I like Samurai, not sure if you are familiar-” he spoke from the kitchen. 

“I am, my brother’s fiancee always talks about how my brother and I remind him of Samurais, deadly and precise.” I said, my thoughts suddenly wandering to my brother and soon to be brother in law, they were probably worried sick about me. I wanted to feel bad for them, but I really couldn’t, not while my nerves always seemed to be on alert, even when lying on the ground laughing with Blue. In fact, maybe my nerves were a little more on end, I wouldn’t be okay knowing that Blue got taken into custody because of my recklessness. 

“Well perfect, I think Samurai could be a killer alias for you,” Blue said, pulling me from my thoughts, his head resting in the cradle of his hands propped on the counter. He looked ready to protest my furrowed brows again, so I took a deep breath and smiled at him, he nodded, pleased that I knew what was wrong before he even had to do or say anything. And in all honestly I was somewhat impressed I had picked up on that as well. 

Yeah, sure I might be on a little higher alert than usual, but Blue was certainly making the time go by faster. I liked the company, especially Blue’s. 


End file.
